On Unfaithful Wings: A sure-footed supernatural thriller

An independent book review

Bruce A. Blake’s first novel is a thoroughly entertaining, as well as thought-provoking and heart-wrenching novel that breaks the author out of obscurity as well as out of several genre conventions.
Blake demonstrates from the first sentence that he’s a professional writer, a novelist with chops:

“I stood with my back to the church, much the way I’d lived my life.

Rain poured down the eaves, splashing against my shoes. Each drop pattering against the leather felt as though it landed directly on my mood.”

What I liked about this book

First, the style: Raymond Chandler meets Stephen King. Spare and terse, it presents characters clearly and sets the ideal tone for this occult horror/mystery thriller story. It shows not only Blake’s ability, but also his commitment to professionalism — it has obviously been edited by a professional. There is not an extra word, not a misplaced phrased, not a single malapropism, and maybe four typos in the whole e-book.
Second, the plot: a tight, fast-paced plot suitable for an action thriller. Blake doesn’t waste time, getting into the main action immediately, and there is not a throw-away scene anywhere. Every scene, every word adds to the plot as much as to character development, mood or scene.
Third, the characters: all solid and believable. The main character, Icarus Fell (yes, that’s his name and Blake has lots of fun with it) is fallible, thoroughly human, not too smart nor too stupid. One reason the plot flows so fast is that it’s seen through the protagonist’s eyes, and his foibles are so easy to identify with. The ex-wife is nasty, but also believable — who hasn’t met at least one woman like Rae? Who hasn’t regretted it? The angels and archangels carry a very believable lack of worry about humans’ plans if they don’t mesh with Heaven’s, too.

And the Angel of Death is one of the best villains ever. Of course, with that as your template, how could a writer go wrong?

Even the shining lamp of goodness in the story, Sister Mary-Therese, hits the right note. She has a heart of gold, but she’s believably good.

Plot

The story is written in the first person. It begins as Icarus Fell, waiting under the eaves of a church for a rainstorm to abate, is murdered outside a church, in the rain, as he is on his way to bring a birthday present to his estranged teenage son.

Yep, that’s where the story begins. The main character dies.

He wakes up six months later in a seedy hotel room, where the Archangel Michael explains his destiny as a harvester of souls. His new job is escorting newly dead souls to a place where an angel can take them to heaven. Michael doesn’t take no for an answer, but explains that if Icarus carries out his new duties faithfully, he will have a chance to see his son again.

Like every action story, though, his job immediately gets more complicated than first explained. Agents of Hell want those sames souls just as much, and they’re powerful and dangerous and nasty.

True to the thriller form, the cops are no friendlier to Icarus. They’re suspicious when he turns up in the city six months after the coroner signs his death certificate.

Throughout the book, Icarus has to dodge the cops, the agents of Hell and the ghosts from his own past, all while discharging his job. It becomes even more complicated when one of his “clients” is an old drinking buddy.

The author avoids the error that many first-time novelists make, the information dump. We readers get the back-story bit by bit, as we need them to understand the motivations of the characters. We learn just how Icarus “screwed up” his relationship with his wife, Rae, and the nature of his relationship with his perhaps-son, Trevor. We learn how Icarus grew up in the orphanage connected with the church where he was murdered.
And like a true professional author of mystery thrillers, Blake ties together all the threads. There is nothing random, nothing unnecessary, nothing unexplained in this book.

Limitation

I won’t say this book has any weaknesses, but one limitation occurred to me fairly early on in the book: the paranormal universe Blake has created is firmly based on the Judeo-Christian bible. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — lots of literature is firmly rooted in the same mythos. The only trouble is that Blake is presenting a universe that basically says the Bible’s conception of the universe is correct. So, where do Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and other religions fit into this?

It’s not a big thing, but something that nagged me as I read this.

Overall, On Unfaithful Wings satisfies. I’m upgrading my earlier assessment from four to five stars.

Well done, Bruce!

Get On Unfaithful Wings on Amazon

Visit Bruce Blake's blog.

Bruce Blake is a member of the Guild of Dreams fantasy writers' collective and Independent Authors International.

Fantasy book launch: Blood Skies, Book 5: The Witch’s Eye

Steve Montano is a fellow member of the Guild of Dreams Fantasy Author’s Collective, and author of the Blood Skies fantasy series. The latest installment, book 5, launches today.

Here’s a little more about it:

THE WITCH’S EYE (Blood Skies, Book 5)

The war continues, and a new evil is born.

The Ebon Cities have created a deadly new breed of undead called the Witchborn, whose very existence spells doom for the entire continent.

To make matters worse, a nihilist cult called the Black Circle has learned of the Witch’s Eye, the source of the Witchborn virus and an item capable of opening a portal to The Black.

Eric Cross’s scattered and war-weary team must find the Eye before it’s too late. With the aid of some unlikely allies, the mercenaries will fight their way across the wastelands and challenge the horrors at the edge of oblivion.

And before the battle is won Cross and his team will make the ultimate sacrifice, and face one of their own…

Return to the world After The Black in Book 5 of the BLOOD SKIES saga!

Grab a copy at Amazon or Smashwords, and be sure to check out the page at Goodreads!

Steven Montano can’t believe he’s written five full-length novels in this series. Writing four more will likely be the death of him, he says. "At least it was fun while it lasted."

Montano lives in Washington State with his wife, two children, a dog of below-average intelligence, and a ridiculous number of books and bottles of wine.

Visit Steven’s official website and get caught up with the Blood Skies series at bloodskies.com

The best and worst of Bruce Blake

Bruce Blake is having a significant impact on the independent author scene. In addition to writing some innovative fantasy and horror novels, he has founded the Guild of Dreams fantasy writers’ collective, which has a Facebook group page as well as a blog, where members take turns posting very interesting ideas, opinions, interviews, excerpts and lots of other stuff. Check it out — AFTER reading Bruce’s addition to the confessionals series, “The best and the worst I’ve ever done — as a writer.”

When Scott asked me to write a few words about the best and worst things I've done as a writer, it took me a while to come up with something that didn't sound cliché and lazy. How easy would it have been to say the best thing I ever did was to self-publish and the worst was to wait so long to self-publish? Both of those answers are valid, but I'm aware of the quality of Scott's writing and blogging, so I thought, “No, Bruce. That's not good enough. Scott's readers will demand more.”

 

So here's the real deal.

The best thing I ever did was to keep working on, reading about and learning my craft. Too broad? Let me narrow it down to a single incident. I took a writing course by mail through a major writing publication some years ago, which included one-on-one instruction from a published author in my genre. Part of the deal was that I could ask the instructor questions when I submitted my exercises, so I asked this gentleman about how much editing an author typically does. His response? “Most of the published authors I know have their first drafts published almost as-is.”

A book that changed Bruce's
writing life.

I was devastated. I hadn't been writing seriously for long at that point and was still pretty new to the idea of writing to be published, but I knew enough to realize my first drafts weren't good enough to go to print. Not by a long shot (and they still aren't). But I didn't let that deter me. I kept writing and, more importantly, kept learning. Soon after, I came across a book that changed my writing life: James A. Michener's Writer's Handbook: Explorations in Writing and Publishing.

The book included his first draft for a novel and you know what?

It sucked.

Photo of Stephen King
from Wikipedia
Commons



Photo of Ray Bradbury  from Wikipedia
Commons



Mr. Michener, author of dozens of bestsellers, proclaimed that writing really came together during the editing process. (An amusing side note: Mr. Michener wrote by hand. An assistant typed the manuscript, which the author would then edit by literally cutting and pasting with scissors and scotch tape). He said that a first draft is just about getting words down on paper, no matter whether they are good or not, and that editing and rewriting are where a writer breathes life into his work. Since that moment, I've read interviews and books by other writers who say the same thing. You know, hacks like Stephen King and Ray Bradbury.

By the way, years later, I finally tracked down a copy of one of my instructor’s books ... I couldn't get through it.

Ah, sweet vindication.

Other “best things” I've done would have to include realizing that any good writer needs the assistance of others in the form of professional editors, proofreaders and cover artists; exposing myself to other writers (though the other writers might not like it so much when I expose myself, wink wink nudge nudge); and taking it seriously enough to lose sleep and skip social functions to just get it done.

A matter of timing

The worst thing I have ever done as a writer, on the other hand, is more difficult to nail down. If I had to pick one, I think it would involve timing.

I published my first novel, On Unfaithful Wings, to Kindle in December 2011, but resisted enrolling in Amazon's KDP Select program until April (to be part of the program, your novel has to be exclusive on Kindle. I struggled with that concept, despite the fact I've sold a grand total of five copies through other venues). Doesn't sound like such a bad thing, does it? Not until you know that something changed significantly about the program around the end of March. Up until that time, copies given away during KDP free promos counted as sales. That meant independent authors could give their book away to thousands of people (my first free promo, I gave away just shy of 10,000 copies) and end up on the Kindle bestsellers list...the list paying customers see and often use to determine what books they are going to buy.

Around the end of March, the giveaways stopped counting as sales. I did my first promo two weeks later. That hesitation cost me hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of dollars. That would have to be the worst thing I've done as a writer.

Unless you include the time I killed a man in Reno just to watch him die.

Bruce Blake lives on Vancouver Island, which the rest of us Canadians know as the tropical part of Canada. When pressing issues like shovelling snow and building igloos don’t take up his spare time, Bruce can be found taking the dog sled to the nearest coffee shop to work on his short stories and novels.

His first novel is On Unfaithful Wings: An Icarus Fell Novel. He released his newest, Blood of the King, on Amazon in October. A promotional preview excerpt appeared in Written Words on October 1.

Follow his blog, The Thoughts and Opinions of a Writer on the Rise.

Follow him on Twitter @bruceablake.

Fantastic Fantasy Freebies!

November 20 and 21 only: 

You can download four fantastic Guild of Dreams fantasy books for FREE!

THE BONES OF THE EARTH

By Scott Bury

The Dark Age, eastern Europe: the earth has decided to rid itself of humanity with earthquakes, volcanoes and new plagues. Civilizations, even the mighty Roman Empire, crumble under the pressure of barbarian waves that are fleeing worse terrors.

Rejected by his own people, pursued by a dragon, young Javor heads for Constantinople, the centre of civilization, looking for answers to the puzzle of his great-grandfather's dagger and the murder of his family.

On the ancient, crumbling Roman highway across haunted, deserted Dacia, Javor rescues the beautiful Danisa from a human sacrifice. He cannot help falling in love with her. But Danisa has her own plans, and when she is kidnapped again, Javor has to wonder: what is the connection between his dagger, his lover and his enemies?

Download FREE from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Bones-Earth-Dark-ebook/dp/B006PI0NRG/

  ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST:

 An Icarus Fell Novel

 By Bruce A. Blake

Icarus Fell's life sucked. Then he died and things got really bad.

After muggers killed him, Icarus became a harvester, his job to help souls on their way to Heaven, and it turned out he possessed as little talent for this as he did for every other job he lost. People are dead. The deposed Angel of Death nearly took his teenage son. The Archangel Michael is angry with him and the police think he is a serial killer.

The only one left on his side is his guardian angel, but when he asks her to help him get to Hell to rescue the souls wrongly condemned because of him, she refuses to go against Michael's wishes.

Then another guardian shows up. Piper is beautiful, mysterious, and willing to help. Having her around turns Icarus' afterlife upside down. But knowing how to get to Hell is only half of the problem.

Getting back with your soul is the real challenge.

Get All Who Wander Are Lost for free from Amazon.

BLOOD SKIES (Book 1)

by Steven Montano

Free on Smashwords through November 25th!

In the time after The Black, human survivors of the Southern Claw Alliance clash with vampire legions of the Ebon Cities in a constant war for survival. Earth as we know it has been forever damaged by an arcane storm that fused our world with distant realms of madness and terror. Things that once existed only in our nightmares stalk the earth.

Now, humanity is threatened by one of its own.

Eric Cross, an enlisted warlock in the Southern Claw military, is part of an elite team of soldiers and mages in pursuit of a woman known as Red — a witch whose stolen knowledge threatens the future of the human race. The members of Viper Squad will traverse haunted forests and blighted tundra in their search for the traitor, a journey that ultimately leads them to the necropolis of Koth.

There, in that haven of renegade undead, Cross will discover the dark origins of magic, and the true meaning of sacrifice...

Experience a dark and deadly new world in the debut novel of the "Blood Skies" series from author Steven Montano.

Get Blood Skies for free at Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/64748

Enter Coupon Code: EL47N in the Shopping Cart.

 

 BORN OF WATER

By Autumn M. Birt

In the buried archives of the Temple of Dust may lie the secret to defeating the Curse, a creature which seeks to destroy 16 year old Ria for the forbidden gifts she possesses. But it is from among the ranks of those who control the Curse where Ria will find her best chance of success. Only the Priestess Niri can save Ria from the forces that hunt her, if Niri doesn’t betray the girl first. Along with Ria comes Ty and his sister, Lavinia, both bound to defend Ria from the Church of Four Orders and Niri, if they must. However, Ty has been living a life less than honest and keeping it from his sister. To survive a journey that takes them across the breadth of their world, the four must learn to trust each other before pursuit from the Church and Ty’s troubled past find them.

Download Born of Water for free from Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/220915

Enter Coupon Code SQ46H in the Shopping Cart.

Or from Amazon.

What is writing style? Guest post by Bruce Blake

What is writing style? How important is it to readers? To writers? To a writer’s success?

I am asking authors for their thoughts on these questions.

Bruce Blake is author of the best-selling fantasy/horror novels On Unfaithful Wings and All Who Wander are Lost and founder of the Guild of Dreams fantasy writers’ collective. His latest novel is the epic fantasy Blood of the King, all available on Amazon.

Bruce, how would you describe your own writing style?

I am a big believer in Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Good Writing. If anyone's not familiar, included amongst these are: avoid detailed descriptions of characters, don't go into great detail describing places and things, and try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Those are the big three for me. I try not to waste any words. I'm a fan of many authors who are well known for their detailed descriptions (George R.R. Martin, China Mieville, etc.), but that's just not my style. I try to make every word count and use as few of them as possible. Short sentences, sharp dialogue, and I'm not afraid to throw out the odd fragment here and there.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?

I admire a lot of authors whose styles differ from mine and I would never attempt to emulate, like those I mentioned above, and J.R.R. Tolkien (I've often wondered how my style would be if I changed my name to Bruce R.R. Blake). I don't really try to emulate anyone, but I've been compared to Jim Butcher (I've only read one of his books) and Mike Carey. If I had to pick one novel in which the style particularly impressed me, it would have to be The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Never have sentence fragments been so powerful.

Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?

I think dislike is a strong word; there is something to take away from any writer's style. Having said that, I'm not a fan of writing that is more about the writing than it is about the characters and their story, though most writers who choose that style are far more talented than I can ever hope to be.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?

I'm pretty happy with my style but, like everyone, I'm always striving to improve. Things definitely change during the rewriting and editing; that's when my style really emerges. I'm not a writer who will ever publish something as it came out during the first draft, nor will I usually even consider showing it to someone who has the ability to read. Too often, my first drafts end up being information dumps that need to be molded into shape. Sometimes they read like I was taking point-form notes during a lecture instead of writing a novel. My latest book, Blood of the King, went through about 12 drafts.

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favour? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?

Again, my style tends to be succinct. I pay attention to the lengths of my sentences and try to use them for maximum impact; it's not unusual for me to have sentences of only a couple of words or a paragraph that is only one word. I'm also conscious of word choices. I have a list I call “Bruce's Bad Words” that I try to weed out of my novels. It naturally includes words that signify passive constructs—like was, were and had—but it also includes words I use habitually (glance, something, moment) and what I call wishy-washy words (almost, barely, nearly). Ideally, I hope its the story, pacing and characters that help readers identify my writing. I think a truly good style should be close to invisible to any reader who is not looking for it.

Do you think your genre imposes certain restrictions on writing style?

I began writing that certain sub-genres of fantasy have requirements of style, but I did a rewrite, because that is not true. I think style is always open, but genre can impose certain tones or voices on a writer. Epic fantasy demands a different tone than urban fantasy, for instance, though the things that make up style—sentence lengths, dialogue, pacing, etc.—can remain essentially the same.

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?

Yes, I do. I think that style is the thing that most readers respond to in genre writing, whether they can put their finger on what that style is or not. As I said, my goal is that my readers aren't even conscious of my style. I want it to be out of the way so my readers can concentrate on the characters and the story, not be distracted by how I tell it.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?

Style is essential. It's what makes a novel walk and talk. A great story with interesting characters is still a laborious read when poorly written. Pacing, tone, voice, structure; all these things contribute to a reader's enjoyment of a book, and these are the elements of style (my apologies to Mr. Strunk and Mr. White). If you take a look through the one and two star reviews of any book on Amazon, you will find many “it would have been a great story if it was written by someone else” comments. If I use my magic decoder ring on that phrase, it says: “I didn't like the writer's style.”

Thank you, Bruce.

Bruce's blog is The Thoughts and Opinions of a Writer on the Rise. He is also the founder of the Guild of Dreams fantasy writers' collective. On The Guild of Dreams blog, Guild members take turns posting very interesting ideas, opinions, interviews, excerpts and lots of other stuff.

You can find Bruce’s books, The Blood of the King, All Who Wander are Lost and On Unfaithful Wings on Amazon.

New fantasy launches today!

Blood of the King (Khirro's Journey Book 1)

Blood of the King, the new epic fantasy by Vancouver author and Guild of Dreams founder Bruce Blake, launches today, and Written Words is fortunate to have an excerpt to publish from Chapter 5. What's it all about?

The king falls and a hero is born, his fate thrust upon him by Shaman's curse. A journey to save the kingdom begins.

Khirro never wanted to be anything more than the farmer he was born to be, but a Shaman's curse binds him to the fallen king and his life changes forever.

Driven by the Shaman's dying words, Khirro's journey pits him against an army of the dead, sends him through haunted lands, and thrusts him into the jaws of beasts he wouldn't have believed existed. In one hand he carries the Shaman's enchanted sword, a weapon he can barely use; in the other he holds a vial of the king's blood, the hope of the kingdom. His destination: the Necromancer's keep in the cursed land of Lakesh. Only the mysterious outlaw magician can raise the king from the dead to save them all from the undead invasion, but can Khirro live long enough to deliver the vial?

Can a coward save a kingdom?

This blog post is part of a cycle: a group of bloggers is publishing excerpts from successive chapters of this exciting new book.


Read Chapter 1  on Tami Parrington's blog:

Read Chapter 2 (Part 1) on Chantal Boudreau's Visions in the Dark
Read Chapter 2 (Part 2) on Steve Montano's Blood Skies blog
Read Chapter 3 on Joshua Johnson's Gunpowder Fantasy blog
Read Chapter 4 on Emily Ann Ward's blog

And now you're caught up and can read part of Chapter 5:

Excerpt: Blood of the King

Chapter 5

The soldier sat on the top stair cleaning blood from his sword, listening to the groans of wounded men strewn on the walk around him. He shifted and slid the blade into its scabbard. Men moved along the wall walk making repairs, tending the injured and collecting the dead. Most of them made a wide berth around him, avoiding a man wearing the garb of the king’s guard. A few archers remained at the parapet launching arrows at the retreating Kanosee, but they had pulled back beyond bow range. The fight had been fierce but, despite the wall breach, they’d repelled the invaders.

For now.

Farther down the wall walk, soldiers scavenged the fallen enemy for whatever they might keep or sell. He sneered. How could they act that way? Where was their honor? On the battlefield, in the heat of the fight when life and death were at stake, such things were done for survival, not for personal gain. Bury them or burn them, don’t rob them. He spat in their direction and turned his head away.

When the Kanosee soldiers breached the wall, it had required all his focus to stay alive, and he lost track of the king in the melee. The last time he saw Braymon, he was engaged with one of the monstrosities summoned to swell the Kanosee ranks. The tide of battle engulfed the soldier, distracting him from his assignment until a fresh troop of Erechanians joined the fray, driving the invaders from the wall, setting the ladders alight with urns of burning pitch. The stench of burnt flesh had threatened to empty the soldier’s stomach; he might have known some of those men, as he may have known some he slew himself. When his thoughts had cleared of the fog of battle, the king was gone. The cloaked man wouldn’t be happy he failed, but he’d have other opportunities.

The soldier stood, stretched, and glanced down the stair at the landing below, a glint of sunlight on metal catching his attention. Near the wall, crowded at the corner of the landing, he saw a suit of plate—Erechanian and of high quality, but he couldn’t get a good view. He hurried down the stairs for a closer look.

Puddled blood, dried and brown, stained the landing. He surveyed the scene with a practiced eye and surmised two men had lain here, one gravely injured. His gaze followed the trail of blood descending the stair and the story became clear: one man injured, the other stripped his armor to carry him to safety. The warrior shook his head. How many men died trying to save one fallen soldier when the entire fortress was in peril? He half-smiled at the novice mistake and went to the heap of plate, shifting it with the toe of his boot. Dirty, scuffed, caked with dried blood inside and out. Through the flaking gore and dust of battle, a pattern was evident on the breast plate. He brushed grime away with a gloved hand and revealed a scrollwork of enameled ivy. His eyes widened.

The armor belonged to the king.

It must have been he who was seriously wounded, carried to safety by some faithful soldier. His stomach clenched. How would he find the king and complete his task now? Anger rose in the soldier; he despised failure, had been trained since birth that it meant weakness. A boot scuffed on a stair below and he stood, muscles tensed, hand on sword hilt.

“Ye! What 'ave we 'ere?” The man ascending the stairs halted as he saw the soldier standing over the pile of armor. “Anythin’ valuable?”

“Not sure.”

The soldier kept his voice purposely low to draw the man closer. With the king fallen, he had little time. The cloaked man had told him what would happen if the king fell and the Shaman performed his abomination, had explained how they would get out of the fortress. He needed to find a way to intercept them before they got too far. This man might be the way.

“I can’t see, ya damn fool. Move outta me way!”

The soldier shifted, keeping his king’s guard insignia hidden, and made space for the other man to sidle in beside him. The man did as the soldier had moments before, crouching, wiping dirt away for a better look and to gauge the armor’s value. The soldier loosened his dagger in its sheath.

“Gods, look at this. Must be worth a fortune.”

He brushed away more dirt, then stopped, hand hovering above an exposed loop of ivy spilling across the breastplate. The soldier’s dagger slid free.

“What is it?”

“The king,” the man said, a note of shock in his words. He stood, half turning toward the soldier. “It’s the king’s pl--”

The soldier’s blade touched the man’s throat, cutting off his words as the sharp edge pressed flesh hard enough to draw blood.

“Don’t cry out. I’ll open your throat before a sound escapes.”

The man’s eyes widened and his breathing stopped; the soldier knew he’d do whatever he said. This man was no warrior, he clung too tightly to life.

“There are tunnels leading from the fortress. Do you know how to access them?”

The man didn’t respond at first, so the soldier pressed more firmly and a drop of blood rolled down the man’s his neck. He nodded once, a quick, mute movement intended to keep the dagger’s edge from slicing deeper into his throat.

“Take me.” The soldier spun the man around, facing him down the stairs, deftly moving the blade from his throat and inserting the tip through the seam in his leather armor. “Don’t betray me or I’ll gut you like the pig you are.”

They descended to the courtyard five flights below, beads of sweat running down the man’s neck, mixing with the blood. They were nearly at the bottom when the man next spoke.

“Why? Why do you betray your king?”

“Not my king,” the soldier growled and jabbed the knife further into the man’s ribs. “Looks can be deceiving.”

They crossed the courtyard, bodies pressed close hiding the dagger between them. Soldiers and workers passed by, too distracted with their own business of repairs and clean-up to notice anything awry. The soldier breathed deep, inhaling familiar fumes of battle, and raised his eyes to the sun. Many hours yet remained in the day, encouraging him. He’d find the king.

His mission would yet be completed.

Biography

Bruce Blake lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. When pressing issues like shovelling snow and building igloos don't take up his spare time, Bruce can be found taking the dog sled to the nearest coffee shop to work on his short stories and novels.

Actually, Victoria, B.C. is only a couple hours north of Seattle, Wash., where more rain is seen than snow. Since snow isn't really a pressing issue, Bruce spends more time trying to remember to leave the "u" out of words like "colour" and "neighbour" then he does shovelling. The father of two, Bruce is also the trophy husband of burlesque diva Miss Rosie Bitts.

Bruce has been writing since grade school but it wasn't until five years ago he set his sights on becoming a full-time writer. Since then, his first short story, "Another Man's Shoes," was published in the Winter 2008 edition of Cemetery Moon, another short, "Yardwork," was made into a podcast in Oct., 2011 by Pseudopod and his first Icarus Fell novel, On Unfaithful Wings, was published to Kindle in December 2011. The second Icarus Fell novel, All Who Wander Are Lost, was released in July, 2012, and Blood of the King, the first book in the two-part Khirro's Journey epic fantasy, was released on September 30. He has plans for at least three more Icarus novels, several stand-alones, and a possible YA fantasy co-written with his eleven-year-old daughter.

Uncover the cover! Blood of the King

Bruce Blake’s newest book, Blood of the King, is coming out in just a couple of weeks, and it looks exciting and a good read.

Bruce is author of the Icarus Fell series of fantasy novels, founder of the Guild of Dreams fantasy authors’ cooperative and a fellow Canadian. I’m proud to present the cover of his upcoming opus, and all I can say about it is: wow.

I have to apologize: I was supposed to post this a couple of days ago, but life got in the way. Sorry, Bruce, but best of luck with the new book!

Blood of the King

(Khirro's Journey Book 1)

A kingdom torn by war. A curse whispered by dying lips. A hero born against his will.

Khirro never wanted to be anything more than the farmer he was born to be, but a Shaman's curse binds him to the fallen king and his life changes forever.

Driven by the Shaman's dying words, Khirro's journey pits him against an army of the dead, sends him through haunted lands, and thrusts him into the jaws of beasts he wouldn't have believed existed. In one hand he carries the Shaman's enchanted sword, a weapon he can barely use; in the other he holds a vial of the king's blood, the hope of the kingdom. His destination: the Necromancer's keep in the cursed land of Lakesh. Only the mysterious outlaw magician can raise the king from the dead to save them all from the undead invasion, but can Khirro live long enough to deliver the vial?

Can a coward save a kingdom?

Who is Bruce Blake?

Bruce Blake lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. When pressing issues like shovelling snow and building igloos don't take up his spare time, Bruce can be found taking the dog sled to the nearest coffee shop to work on his short stories and novels.

Actually, Victoria, B.C. is only a couple hours north of Seattle, Wash., where more rain is seen than snow. Since snow isn't really a pressing issue, Bruce spends more time trying to remember to leave the "u" out of words like "colour" and "neighbour" then he does shovelling. The father of two, Bruce is also the trophy husband of burlesque diva Miss Rosie Bitts.

Bruce has been writing since grade school but it wasn't until six years ago he set his sights on becoming a full-time writer. Since then, his first short story, "Another Man's Shoes" was published in the Winter 2008 edition of Cemetery Moon, another short, "Yardwork", was made into a podcast in Oct., 2011 by Pseudopod and his first Icarus Fell novel, "On Unfaithful Wings", was published to Kindle in Dec., 2011. The second Icarus Fell novel, “All Who Wander Are Lost”, was released in July, 2012, with the first book in the two-part “Khirro's Journey” epic fantasy coming Sept. 30. He has plans for at least three more Icarus novels, several stand alones, and a possible YA fantasy co-written with his eleven-year-old daughter.

See more about Bruce and his writings at his blog, www.bruceblake.wordpress.com

Find Bruce Blake on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BruceBlakeWrites

Follow him on Twitter as @BruceABake

Visit Bruce's Author page on Amazon.com
Visit the Guild of Dreams fantasy authors' blog at http://fantasycollective.wordpress.com/

Contact Bruce by email at bruceblake@hotmail.ca

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